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- /* Here's the full text of the Federal Trade Commission's Holder
- in Due Course Rule. This is one of consumer's most important
- protections in the never ending battle between consumer's rights
- and bad business. Under this rule, virtually every consumer
- transaction in which a loan is made, if the finance contract is
- assigned to a lender, then the lender IS SUBJECT TO ALL OF THE
- CLAIMS that the consumer has against the original seller. This
- means that if you enter into an agreement and then properly
- refuse to pay because the merchandise is defective, then if the
- finance contract has been assigned, you nevertheless may assert
- the same claims against the holder of the contract. In other
- words, in a consumer transaction where this notice appears, a
- bank or other lender that later purchases your finance contract
- cannot tell you to bring your complaints against the original
- seller, and that it's not their problem-- because it is. Of
- course, a business transaction is NOT subject to these rules. */
-
- Part 433 of 16 Code of Federal Regulations
- PRESERVATION OF CONSUMERS' CLAIMS AND DEFENSES
-
- Section 433.1
-
- Definitions-
-
- (a) "Person." An individual, corporation, or any other
- business entity.
-
- (b) "Consumer." A natural person who seeks or acquires goods
- or services for personal, family, or household use.
-
- (c) "Creditor." A person who, in the ordinary course of
- business, lends purchase money or finances the sale of goods or
- services to consumers on a deferred payment basis. Provided, such
- person is not acting, for the purposes of a particular
- transaction, in the capacity of a credit card issuer.
-
- (d) Purchase money loan." A cash advance which is received
- by a consumer in return for a "Finance Charge" within the meaning
- of the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z, which is applied,
- in whole or in substantial part, to a purchase of goods or
- services from a seller who (1) refers consumers to the creditor
- or (2) is affiliated with the creditor by common control,
- contract, or business arrangement.
-
- (e) "Financing a sale." Extending credit to a consumer in
- connection with a "credit sale" within the meaning of the Truth
- in Lending Act and Regulation Z.
-
- (f) "Contract." Any oral or written agreement, formal or
- informal, between a creditor and a seller, which contemplates or
- provides for cooperative or concerted activity in connection with
- the sale of goods or services to consumers or the financing
- thereof.
-
- (g) "Business arrangement." Any understanding, procedure,
- course of dealing, or arrangement, formal or informal, between a
- creditor and a seller, in connection with the sale of goods or
- services to consumers or the financing thereof.
-
- (h) "Credit card issuer." A person who extends to
- cardholders the right to use a credit card in connection with
- purchases of goods or services.
-
- (i) "Consumer credit contract." Any instrument which
- evidences or embodies a debt arising from a "Purchase Money Loan"
- transaction or a "financed sale" as defined in paragraphs (d) and
- (e) of this section.
-
- (j) "Seller." A person who, in the ordinary course of
- business, sells or leases goods or services to consumers.
-
- Section 433.2
-
- Preservation of consumers' claims and defenses-
-
- In connection with any sale or lease of goods or services to
- consumers, in or affecting commerce as "commerce" is defined in
- the Federal Trade Commission Act, it is an unfair or deceptive
- act or practice within the meaning of section 5 of that Act for a
- seller, directly or indirectly, to:
-
- /* Every sale of something by a person in the business of selling
- is going to affect commerce, since they have used the telephones,
- mails or other instrumentalities of commerce at least once, or,
- at least, have had a customer from across a state line or a
- delivery from across a state line. */
-
- (a) Take or receive a consumer credit contract which fails
- to contain the following provision in at least ten point bold
- face, type:
-
- NOTICE
-
- ANY HOLDER OF THIS CONSUMER CREDIT CONTRACT IS SUBJECT TO
- ALL CLAIMS AND DEFENSES WHICH THE DEBTOR COULD ASSERT AGAINST THE
- SELLER OF GOODS OR SERVICES OBTAINED PURSUANT HERETO OR WITH THE
- PROCEEDS HEREOF. RECOVERY HEREUNDER BY THE DEBTOR SHALL NOT
- EXCEED AMOUNTS PAID BY THE DEBTOR HEREUNDER.
-
- or,
-
- (b) Accept, as full or partial payment for such sale or
- lease, the proceeds of any purchase money loan (as purchase money
- loans is defined herein), unless any consumer credit contract
- made in connection with such purchase money loan contains the
- following provision in at least ten point, bold fact, type:
-
- NOTICE
-
- ANY HOLDER OF THIS CONSUMER CREDIT CONTRACT IS SUBJECT TO
- ALL CLAIMS AND DEFENSES WHICH THE DEBTOR COULD ASSERT AGAINST THE
- SELLER OF GOODS OR SERVICES OBTAINED PURSUANT HERETO OR WITH THE
- PROCEEDS HEREOF. RECOVERY HEREUNDER BY THE DEBTOR SHALL NOT
- EXCEED AMOUNTS PAID BY THE DEBTOR HEREUNDER.